This Government Bill was introduced on 9 December 2024, read a first time on 10 December 2024 (under urgency) and referred to the Education and Workforce Committee. The closing date for public submissions is 20 January 2025, and the select committee report is due by 22 April 2025.

The general policy statement in the Bill’s explanatory note provides:

“This Bill introduces the ability for employers to make pay deductions in response to partial strikes. It does so by largely returning the settings around partial strikes to those that were in the Employment Relations Act 2000 in 2018, before the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2018 removed those settings. This Bill implements Government policy aimed at incentivising parties engaged in industrial action to reach agreement sooner, by providing employers with a specific response to partial strikes.

“Partial strikes are industrial actions that fall short of a full withdrawal of labour. Currently, the main options for employers to respond to a partial strike are to accept it, or to suspend or lock out employees and deduct all pay for that period as if it is a full strike.

“The Bill sets out 2 ways to calculate pay deductions in response to partial strikes. An employer can either reduce an employee’s pay by a proportionate amount (calculated in accordance with a specified method that is based on identifying the work that the employee will not be performing due to the strike) or by deducting a fixed percentage of their pay.

“An employer does not have to make deductions in response to partial strikes. If they decide to do so, the Bill requires the employer to provide written notification about the deduction to employees before the deduction is made. The Bill also specifies the dispute resolution process that applies in relation to partial strike deductions.”

The Bill proposes to amend the following Acts:

• Employment Relations Act 2000 (ss 80, 100, 161 and sch 1AA amended; new ss 82AA and 95A–95G inserted).
• Wages Protection Act 1983 (s 6 amended).
• Education and Training Act 2020 (ss 586 and 587 amended).

Further information from Parliament, the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the Ministry of Justice can be accessed under the entry for the Bill in Employment Law (online ed, Thomson Reuters) at [PPE2] (Proposed legislative changes).

Also at [PPE2] is information about other changes to the Employment Relations Act that the government intends to introduce through a further Amendment Bill in 2025.